[ad_1]
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If Democrat Joe Biden wins the U.S. presidency, a divided Congress could prevent him from enacting important priorities like expanding health care, fighting climate change and providing aid to millions whose lives have been affected by the coronavirus. .
With millions of ballots yet to be counted, Biden led the acting president, Donald Trump, into several of the states on the battlefield that will decide the race.
However, his Democrats were falling short in their effort to gain control of the Senate, where Republicans currently have a 53-47 majority, even as they retained control of the House of Representatives.
If those results hold up, that would be a recipe for stalemate in Washington, analysts say, where lawmakers would have a hard time agreeing on even basic duties like paying debts and financing government operations.
The most ambitious efforts are likely to be completely out of the question.
A multi-trillion dollar plan to curb carbon emissions and create jobs would fail in the Senate.
Biden’s plan to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy would also be dead, as would the Democratic-backed reforms to voting rights and campaign finance.
Biden will likely have to settle for a much smaller economic stimulus package as well. Democrats passed several House bills that would provide up to $ 3.4 billion to provide assistance to millions of unemployed people and help local governments keep teachers, firefighters and other employees on the payroll.
Senate Republicans have so far refused to approve anything, although their leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that the two sides needed to reach a compromise before the end of the year. However, he showed his willingness to satisfy a key Democratic demand: more money for state and local governments.
“The message from the Senate Republicans will be: ‘The American people chose us to put a stop to this unrequited socialism that the Democrats are going to try to bring to this country,'” said Jon Lieber, a former McConnell aide now with the Group. Eurasia.
Lacking a majority on Capitol Hill, Biden could issue executive orders to pursue lower-caliber agenda items such as student loan relief and consumer protection.
That go it alone approach, used by Trump and Democratic President Barack Obama before him, could easily be undone by a Republican successor.
CORONAVIRUS, WEATHER AND CABINET
On his first day in the White House, Biden says, he will issue a national strategy to respond to COVID-19 that will likely include a mask mandate and clearer guidance on testing and reopening schools. He also promised to work more productively with health officials Trump has ignored, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert.
But a Republican Senate could reject cabinet appointees it deems too liberal, forcing Biden to opt for consensus elections that could frustrate those on the left wing of his party.
“We want to make sure that the people who are implementing parts of their (climate change) plan are not people aligned with the fossil fuel industry, not corporate lobbyists,” said Garrett Blad, national spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement, a group of base that promotes aggressive action against climate change.
Biden campaigned as a centrist who would try to overcome partisan divisions, and as a member of the Senate from 1972 to 2008 he has a deep understanding of its workings and personal relationships with many of its members.
“Look for him to push the long-standing priorities of his similar infrastructure, where perhaps he could find the support of one or two moderate Republicans,” said Scott Mulhauser, a Democratic strategist who worked for Biden in the 2012 presidential election.
But many of Biden’s former Republican colleagues have either retired or been eliminated, leaving a more conservative majority that is less inclined to compromise.
“These periods of divided party control tend not to be very productive,” said Sarah Binder, a political science professor at George Washington University.
Facing another two years of stalemate, Democrats will likely focus on winning a Senate majority in the next congressional election in November 2022.
But that could turn out badly for Democrats if Washington doesn’t take dramatic action to boost the economy, improve health care and curb climate change, said Adam Jentleson, a former Democratic Senate aide to leadership.
“The real danger scenario for Biden and the Democrats is that the Republicans force all solutions to be inappropriate and the Democrats take them because they have to,” he said.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Susan Cornwell, Trevor Hunnicutt, and Richard Cowan; edited by Mary Milliken and Giles Elgood)
